Tensions keep rising in the State of Palestine. Serious security incidents were reported in East Jerusalem, West Bank and Gaza in the past two weeks. The attacks included an attack by two Palestinians on a synagogue in West Jerusalem killing 4 Jewish worshippers and a police officer. An IDF personnel was stabbed to death in Tel Aviv and an Israeli settler north of Hebron. A Palestinian bus driver was found hanged inside his bus in West Jerusalem and a 10 year old boy was shot by IDF after crossing the border from Gaza to Israel. IDF transported the boy to hospital.

The number of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in collective shelters continues to reduce. The number is currently 25,056.

An explosive remnant of war exploded east of Khan Younis and caused two injuries.

UNICEF with the support of NGO partners, has reached at least 76,167 children, mostly adolescents (53% females), through various types of activities such as recreational, life skills, and stress relief activities to help them build their resilience and cope with the recurrent crises. The activities were conducted in 119 government schools, 21 community-based organizations, and 19 government shelters located in different Gaza districts. During the reporting period, 1,958 children participated in recreational activities.

Approximately 166,000 children have benefitted from essential drugs provided by UNICEF since the onset of the crisis.

7 - 20 November 2014

538 children killed

(Protection Cluster, 22 October 2014)

2,254 total deaths

(Protection Cluster, 22 October 2014)

4,000 children homeless

(OCHA, 4 September 2014)

3,374 children injured

(Protection Cluster, 22 October 2014)

1,500 children orphaned

(Protection Cluster, 1 September 2014)

89 entire families killed

(OCHA, 25 August 2014)

UNICEF Funding Need $39.9 million

UNICEF Funding Gap $31.4 million

Situation Overview

Tensions are mounting in the State of Palestine. Serious security incidents were reported in East Jerusalem, West Bank and Gaza in the past two weeks. In Jerusalem two Palestinians carried out an attack on a synagogue in a West Jerusalem neighborhood killing 4 Jewish worshippers and a police officer. The Palestinians were shot and killed by ISF. A Palestinian bus driver was found hanged inside his bus in West Jerusalem. Stabbing incidents were reported in Jerusalem in two separate incidents where an Israeli then a Palestinian was stabbed. An Israeli boy died of wounds sustained in a previous attack on light rail station reported on earlier. In the West Bank, Israeli settlers were stabbed shortly after a fatal attack on security personnel in Tel Aviv. One settler died and two were injured. A Palestinian was shot dead by ISF during clashes in Arrub Camp north of Hebron. In Gaza, A 10-year-old boy was shot by IDF after crossing the border from Gaza to Israel. IDF transported the boy to the hospital. A rocket was fired at Israel but dropped short in Gaza. Eight improvised explosive devises exploded in front of houses of Fatah leaders in Gaza City and a Fatah led commemoration of Arafat's death was dispersed by the Hamas police. Clashes between Palestinians and ISF have been frequent in the West Bank including East Jerusalem and a number of Israeli right-wing protests have been reported.

An explosive remnant of war exploded east of Khan Younis and caused two injuries.

Another child in Gaza died of his wounds sustained during the conflict, bringing the total of child deaths to 539.

Almost 3 months after the 50 days of armed conflict in Gaza ended with a ceasefire, the situation is still dire. The war damaged and further degraded the rickety infrastructure. Up to 20,000 houses were destroyed or rendered uninhabitable; 25,000 people remain displaced in collective shelters and many thousands more stay with host families. 187 government schools were damaged and two completely destroyed, in addition to 92 UNRWA-run schools damaged. Out of the 32 hospitals in Gaza, 17 were damaged and 58 clinics out of 97 clinics were damaged. A donation of fuel has enabled the Gaza power plant to partially resume operations. However, more progress needs to take place. Although the Gaza reconstruction mechanism is a positive start, it is a temporary measure and a full lifting of the blockade remains necessary to allow for the urgent recovery in Gaza and realization of human/child rights. In view of upcoming harsh winter, insufficient level of humanitarian assistance received so far and slow pace of recovery, Gazans are expressing growing criticism and dissatisfaction. Though UNICEF and other actors have been providing support in the sectors of WASH, Health and Nutrition, Education, and Child Protection, much more is needed to support children's recovery and to strengthen their resilience. Children cannot wait for the current political situation to improve.

The upcoming winter could further aggravate the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza, and bring on a fresh humanitarian disaster. Many sewage pipes and water networks are still buried under the rubble. The consequences of floods could be catastrophic, for instance if raw sewage trapped under the rubble mixes with rainwater and floods homes in Gaza City.

Summary Analysis of Programme Response

Education and Adolescents

UNICEF supported the repair of 26 damaged schools in coordination with Ministry of Education and Higher Education (MOEHE) which conducted the needs assessment, preparations for the repairs of additional 18 schools are underway. The school repairs include improvement of WASH facilities.

UNICEF in collaboration with WFP and Oxfam, is providing school uniforms and shoes to children most affected by the conflict through an e-voucher programme. 3,472 children have redeemed their school uniforms through e-vouchers thus far in the ongoing programme.

The initial phase of training organized by MOEHE and UNICEF on non-violence in school, classroom management and interactive learning was completed this week. The training started on 12 November targeting 64 supervisors and headmasters from the seven directorates. The 20-hour training is carried out by senior MOEHE officers at 3 training

centres of East and West Gaza and Khan Younis Directorates. During the second phase, the training will be extended to include 1600 teachers from all the 395 governmental schools.

UNICEF with the support of NGO partners, has reached at least 76,167 children, mostly adolescents (53% females) through various types of activities such as recreational, life skills, and stress relief activities to help them build their resilience and cope with the recurrent crises. The activities were conducted in 119 government schools, 21 community-based organizations, and 19 government shelters located in different Gaza districts. During the reporting period, 1,958 children participated in recreational activities.

At least 4,577 adolescents are provided with continuous non-cognitive skills development training including creative and critical thinking, communication, problem solving, team work and more, with the support of UNICEF's partners, TAMER, MAAN, Al Nayzak and Save Youth Future Society. The skills development program will enable adolescents to conduct initiatives in their communities and act as agents of positive change.

UNICEF is prepositioning emergency educational material in preparation for the winter. 30,000 school bags, 400 recreational kits and 100 ECD kits are among the items being procured.

Child Protection

UNICEF and Palestinian Centre for Democracy and Conflict Resolution reached 3,745 children (1,802 girls and 1,943 boys) with psychosocial support in the reporting period. In total 13,317 children have received psychosocial support since 15 September.

33 children (26 girls and 7 boys) were reached through the Sawa helpline. Sawa has provided support to 1,553 children (862 girls and 658 boys) in total.

10 Family Centers are currently serving 750 children (434 girls and 316 boys) between the ages of 6-18, with protection services.

With technical support from UNICEF and following on from the back to school psychosocial week, the MOEHE school counselling programme is providing psychosocial support to 5,171 students directly impacted by the escalation of hostilitiesThe UNICEF led Child Protection Working Group hasdocumented programme implementation by 66 partners reaching 731,974 children with recreational and basic psychosocial first aid.

In preparation for winter, 12,000 mats and 12,000 blankets have arrived in Gaza and training suits for 12,000 boys and girls are being procured.

Water Sanitation and Hygiene.

UNICEF supported ACF and Gaza's Coastal Municipal Water Utilities (CMWU) to construct a sand bags barrier to protect Khuz'aa camp from the risk of flooding. 800 IDPs staying in the caravan camp are benefitting from the intervention.

Spare parts for water and sewage networks as well as

generator consumables have been delivered to CMWU. These supplies will help around 400,000 people who currently have interrupted access to the municipal water to have access to water for domestic purposes for increased number of hours. The beneficiaries are mainly in Khan Younis, Rafah and Middle area.

UNICEF as WASH cluster lead is coordinating the cluster's winterization plans. UNICEF has supported a winterization workshop, organized with CMWU, and assessed the needs, including for mobile wastewater pumps for storm evacuation, and cleaning gullies in the flood prone areas.

Child Health & Nutrition

UNICEF is co-leading a new nutrition sub group together with Ministry of Health (MoH) in both West Bank and in Gaza.

During the reporting period, breastfeeding awareness-raising sessions were conducted for 2,841 mothers by UNICEF-supported MoH Community Health Workers (CHWs). In total 13,435 mothers in shelters and with host families have benefitted to date.

Children continue to benefit from essential drugs - approximately 166,000 children have benefitted to date.

UNICEF is funding the MoH (CHWs) to conduct outreach activities in collective shelters. In the past two weeks, 2,508 women and 106 children participated in awareness sessions on communicable diseases in collective shelters and with host families. To date 1,710 men, 12,769 women and 3,701 children have participated in the sessions.

MoH and Near East Council of Churches (NECC) provided 333 women with Post Natal care through home visits in the past two weeks. In total 2,955 women with high risk pregnancies have benefitted from home visits in the conflict affected areas of Shujayeh and Rafah. In preparation for the winter, the parents are counselled on care within cold conditions.

UNICEF, as part of the UN Country Team, coordinates with the Government of National Consensus to support its role in humanitarian response, early recovery and reconstruction.

UNICEF in cooperation with the Government and other UN partners has participated extensively in an on-going Palestinian Detailed Needs Assessment and will continue to support the development of the recovery framework and strategy.

UNICEF leads the Child Protection Working Group and affiliated groups for mental health and psychosocial sevices (MHPSS), and for monitoring and reporting of grave violations against children (MRM) (Children and armed conflict reporting mechanism). These groups have been merged to maximise coordination of child protection responses during the emergency. UNICEF also leads the UN Theme Group on Social Protection.